Thursday, September 12, 2013

Richie Sambora: Engine 19 (9/11 tribute)

On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Richie Sambora released "Engine 19", a song he wrote with Bernie Taupin (best known for his collaborations with Elton John).

Listen to Richie Sambora - Engine 19


I've transcribed the lyrics as I heard them... Corrections welcome.

We come from the islands and boroughs
We grew up on these streets round here
Me and my brothers Pat and Danny
Been putting out fires for years

Our old man and his father before him
Rode out when the siren screamed
Now we work out of the same place together
That's Engine 19

Yeah, we're boys from New York doing our job
There's times we get hurt, there's those that we've lost
In the fire and the smoke from the roof caving in
When there's one less comes out from Engine 19

I'll admit when the summers get brutal
I see twisted steel in my dreams
And I hear the crack of old timber
and I know there's a hell that I've seen
But we go round the corner on Friday
To this little old neighbourhood bar
Drink us some beers and shoot pool
Turn in a game or play cards

We're the boys from New York doing our job
There's times we get hurt, there's those that we've lost
In the fire and the smoke from a roof caving in
When there's one less comes out from Engine 19

The boys from New York get on back up
And out of the shields in the ashes and dust
Every inch of that ladder, every man on this team
They all ride out together with Engine 19

Singing la dada dada, Engine 19

We're the boys from New York, Engine 19

Feels good to be a part of something, the chain of command
A brotherhood bound like a family, the strength of a wedding band
Every inch of that ladder, every man on this team
They all ride out together

Our old man and his father before him
Rode out when the siren screamed

We are boys from New York doing our Job
There's times we get hurt, there's those that we've lost
In the fire and the smoke from a roof caving in
When there's one less comes out from Engine 19

But boys from New York get on back up
And out of the shields in the ashes and dust
Every inch of that ladder, every man on this team
They all ride out together with Engine 19

Singing la dada dada, Engine 19
Singing la dada dada, Engine 19

We're boys from New York, Engine 19
We're the boys from New York


The storytelling is something wouldn't feel out of place with Elton John sitting at a piano -- not surprising, given the contribution of Elton's lyricist -- but my first thought upon hearing "Engine 19" was that it reminded me of Bruce Springsteen, particularly "Racing in the Street", despite the different subject matter.

Do you like the song? Is this the type of solo stuff you'd like from Richie in the future?

5 comments:

  1. It's a pleasant enough song. It does sound like an Elton tune for sure.

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    1. On a side note - I'm truly sick of all of his skirting around the big elephant in the friggin room. I'm sick of his promotions and not giving a statement. It's BS. I really didn't even want to look at the video but I did because I do enjoy his work with Jon so I thought I'd give it a try. But honestly, I'm tired of all of this crap. He's truly ignoring the fans and the natives are getting very restless.

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  2. @vishna, Jon is ignoring the fans as well. He's the boss of BJ and could say what's going on too, but he prefers to make cryptic statements or won't say a word on BJ.com. That makes him not any better in my opinion.
    They should have fixed this both month ago.

    Btw, I like the new Richie song.

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  3. True... It seems Jon should make a statement. However, he is not out promoting anything but the band. It appears that Richie is the only one who can make a statement, since he is the one not showing up to a tour he signed up for.

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  4. I think the lyric is "Tune in a game or play cards" rather than "turn in a game..."

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Thanks for giving me your time.